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State's attorney faces challenge in Burge suit

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

by Jerry Crimmins

Lawyers who filed a class-action lawsuit seeking hearings for prison inmates who alleged torture by Chicago detectives connected to Jon Burge said today the Cook County state's attorney's office should get disqualified from this suit.

"Anita Alvarez has a constitutional duty to perform the duties of the state's attorney. … This is about our ability to discharge our duties and present arguments well," Castiglione said.

Taylor called Alvarez "a high associate of Devine's" and said many prosecutors who served under Devine remain in the office.

"Her office is tainted," Taylor said.

The lawyers made their arguments today to reporters after a short public hearing before Biebel.

Taylor said he raised this conflict of interest argument during a 20-minute, private conference in Biebel's chambers to which only the lawyers were invited.

Locke E. Bowman, legal director of the Roderick MacArthur Justice Center, said, "we obviously need a prosecutor without a conflict of interest and with clear eyes to deal with the important issues we have raised.

"We want to get past the preliminary issues quickly," Bowman said.

Doing that, Bowman said, means the court can deal with the question of whether inmates who may have been tortured by Burge or his colleagues will get new hearings on the cases that put them in prison.

At least 100 current inmates could be seeking such hearings.

Biebel told the state's attorney's office to file its arguments in writing by Dec. 18. He told the lawyers who filed the class-action lawsuit to respond to the state's attorney's office's arguments by Jan. 7.